What Everybody Ought to Know About the Bible

I’ve got some news for you:

We don’t know and can’t know everything about God and the Bible.

Is that thought comforting to you, or does it stir up anxiety?

Let’s face it: there are things in the Bible we just can’t explain. Some things, no theologian, scientist, or historian can explain! And you know what? I’m okay with that.

My faith is not challenged by my lack of understanding. If I can explain everything about God then He is not God. My faith would be more challenged by a God I could fully explain than by a God who remains in so many ways a mystery.

If there is one thing I’ve learned over the last five years, it’s that I can’t learn everything. The more I come to know about God and the Bible, the more I realize just how little I know.

As we walk through understanding God’s story this summer, you might find yourself experiencing something similar. My goal is not to explain everything and answer every question but to spark inside of you the same flame God ignited in me–a desire to know Him and His story.

God’s story is amazing! It is completely mind-blowing! And once we move beyond the tamed version of the stories we are taught as children, we realize, “This is one crazy book!” I encourage you, take comfort in the fact that we can’t know everything, because our God does, and He is the one writing this story.

The Story – The Beginning is Not the Beginning

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) In six days He created the earth and all that is in it, and on the seventh day He rested from His work. This is what the Bible calls the beginning. But do you want to know something interesting? It’s not truly the beginning.

You see, God is infinite. God has no beginning and no end. In fact, the Bible says that He is the beginning and the end. Therefore, if God has no beginning and no end, then His story also has no beginning and no end. So you might be wondering, “Why then does the Bible mark Genesis 1:1 as ‘The Beginning?'”

It’s actually quite simple; it’s because that is where God decided to begin telling His story! And when we take into consideration God’s infiniteness, when and where He chooses to begin telling His story becomes incredibly revealing about His character. You see, there is something very significant about the creation account in Genesis… it’s the beginning of us!

God chose the very moment that we walked onto the scene to begin the unfolding of this epic tale. It’s as if He is saying, “There is no story worth telling before I met you.”

And as we delve into the story of God, we will see that this character of overwhelming love is spilled all over the pages of the Bible. You see, God’s story is a love story; it’s about the greatest lover who ever lived and the object of His adoration–you.

But what we must realize is that God’s story is not just a story of love; it is also a story of war. As I said before, the creation account in Genesis is not truly the beginning, it is merely the place where God chose to begin telling His story. We can tell from the scriptures that sometime before God ever created humans, He created a heavenly realm filled with angelic beings. One of these was Lucifer, a guardian cherub who is described as being full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. But Lucifer became proud; he decided that he wanted the honor that was given to God, so he rebelled, and he became Satan.

And on the day that God banished Lucifer from Heaven, a great war broke out. A war between good and evil. A battle between truth and fiction!

Next week, we will take a deeper look at the cosmic battlefield which is the setting for God’s Story!

If you want to join me this summer in Discovering the Story or follow along with the Summer Bible Reading Plan, you can find out the details here!